The roots of Adventure Therapy can be traced to the first systematic
attempts by civilized societies to provide humane treatment to the
mentally ill. In Europe, rural hospitals were known as sanatoriums:
one of the fruits of the Enlightenment was the
widespread development of large hospitals for the mentally disturbed.
Most of these hospitals, both in the United States and elsewhere, were
built in relatively isolated rural or suburban areas. There were a
number of reasons for this decision. First, it was thought that
patients would recover sooner if they were removed from the stresses of
community life and allowed to repose in the fresh country air.”
- p. 528, Alloy, Acocella, Bootzin (1996)
Go to a timeline of
significant historical events in the history of adventure therapy (Lee
Gillis)
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